Primary and secondary drug treatment of myocardial infarction.

The management of myocardial infarction has been revolutionized during the last few years. Based on a better understanding of the physiopathology of infarction, aggressive intervention with drug therapy has made great reductions in both mortality and morbidity possible. Early reperfusion of the infarct-related artery with such thrombolytic agents as streptokinase or recombinant tissue plasminogen activator may decrease acute mortality by up to 50%. New uses for older drugs, such as acetylsalicylic acid and nitroglycerin, give them a primary role in acute myocardial infarction. β-Blocking drugs, when given in the early and later phases of myocardial infarction, also clearly reduce mortality and morbidity. Combining early reperfusion and adjunctive therapy with ASA, nitrates, and β-blockers will surely become accepted as the most effective method of treating the pain, limiting the damage, and preventing the complications of myocardial infarction.